Acid Rain
by Aspen Starlight
Summary: Tag to episode 1x11, Rules of the Game. Mike comes in late at night to do some work and try to take his mind off of his own troubles. He stumbles upon Harvey, and realizes that for all his observational skills, he missed something staring him in the face.


**AN: **Quick drabble as a tag to episode 1x11, Rules of the Game. It's not betaed, so there may be a few mistakes here and there.

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><p><strong>Acid Rain<strong>

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><p>It was late, at least past two in the morning. Mike wasn't exactly sure why he came back to work, considering he probably could have just laid in bed for the rest of the night, staring at his ceiling and wondering why everything seemed to be falling apart in his personal life. Maybe subconsciously his brain figured work did sound more appealing then that. At least it did take his mind off of….things.<p>

Walking into the associates area, he smiled at Kelly, one of the nicer of the bunch, and she gave him a tired one back from behind her desk as he walked by. A few others were milling around aimlessly, coffee cups in hand and eyes glazed over from a combination of lack of sleep and too much reading.

"Late night?" he asked quietly, pulling the strap of his bag over his head and setting it on top of his desk, running a hand through his hair to straighten it out when it got messed up.

"If I had known that this much research was a prerequisite for becoming a lawyer…." She shook her head with a small laugh.

He laughed back, the sound echoing loudly in the quiet office and causing some of the more sleepy associates to jerk awake rather hilariously. "Sorry," he muttered, when a few glared. Taking off his jacket, he hung it over the back of his chair and began to roll up the cuffs of his white button up. "Well, I'll leave you to it, I guess. Need to go get some files from Harvey's."

She nodded, giving him a smile as he walked back around his desk. "Good luck, with Louis."

"Thanks," he said out loud, then added under his breath once out of earshot, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth, "But I think he'll need it more than me."

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><p>The office at night was a very interesting place. If he was honest with himself, he preferred it more than his own apartment. Though that could have been because the ceiling didn't leak when it rained. And there was something rather beautiful about it; the low security lights twinkling behind glass walls, combined with the silence, made it very peaceful. It was the perfect time to do research.<p>

He made it to Donna's desk before he realized that Harvey's office was actually occupied. At least, it looked to be. One of the few lamps were on, and the light was dim. A few of the boxes he'd seen earlier that day were still scattered around the room from what he could see through the glass. But, surely Harvey wasn't _still_ working.

Quietly, he opened the glass door, peeking into the room before cautiously walking in. He scanned the room, eyes flickering over everything, taking in information. Harvey's suit jacket was thrown haphazardly over his desk, and files were strewn all of the top of it. His gaze shot over to the couch when he caught slight movement and the sound of a soft exhale.

No. No way. Maybe this was another one of those weird dreams. But, when he pinched himself, it hurt. So the image in front of him was real.

Harvey was splayed out on the couch, lying on his back, one arm clutching a file to his chest. His features were slack and his eyes were closed. It looked like his breathing was too even for him to be awake. But it wasn't so much the fact that he caught his boss sleeping at the office, as the fact that he caught him looking completely unguarded, that gave Mike pause.

Because right now, as he silently walked closer to the couch, that's all he saw. The man's masks were down, as he lay there without his suit of armor on and his hair all messed up from sleep. He looked like a specter, what with how pale and almost sickly looking he was. Perhaps the worst part was that he appeared absolutely exhausted, even in sleep, as if he hadn't been doing any for the past few days.

Now Mike normally prided himself in his observational skills, but he realized that he had missed something very, very important. Because suddenly Harvey wasn't Harvey anymore. He was falling apart in front of him, and that, that scared him.

Feeling unsure, and slightly weird staring at Harvey when he was asleep and unaware, he glanced around the room. It truly was a mess. Files were scattered across every available surface, including the floor, and there were boxes everywhere. The temptation to just take a quick peek at a few of the closer ones was strong, but he knew it wouldn't be right. However, it would be next to impossible to find the file he needed.

Chancing a quick glance at Harvey, who was thankfully still completely out of it, he exhaled softly. He could live without the file, whereas Harvey couldn't live without sleep. Making up his mind, he stepped carefully around the files over to the table with the lit lamp, and flicked it off. It got much darker in the room, and he paused, hardly breathing, when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye.

Shooting a panicked look towards the couch, he was relived when the man settled down after a moment, and he let out a sigh of relief. Swiftly and silently, he navigated back towards the door, pausing on the threshold, before casting one last fleeting look back.

He wasn't sure what would happen if Harvey fell apart. He didn't want to know. But, he had to admit to himself that if he did, he'd be there to help pick up the pieces. It was the least he could do.

He flicked off the rest of the lights, shut the door, and vowed he would keep quiet about what he saw that night.

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><p>Harvey awoke with start, body jerking up, his heart racing when he didn't recognize his surroundings for a moment. Relaxing slightly when he realized he was in his office, he let out a groan and allowed his body to flop back on the couch. Running a hand over his face tiredly, he raised a hand, squinting as he checked the time on his watch. Three AM. God it was late.<p>

He dropped his hand to his chest, grabbing the file that he had knocked around when he had woken so suddenly. Slipping the papers back into the file, he flung it sideways, where it skidded along the floor, still intact. Haphazardly he threw an arm over his eyes, just lying there in the dark.

Someone had been in his office. He didn't remember shutting the lights off, although he wasn't thinking too clearly at the moment so maybe he had. Or more likely, Donna or Jessica had. He could barely find it in himself to make a mental note to thank both of them in the morning, though.

Despite the fact that he had just been sleeping, exhaustion settled over him like a blanket, and he resisted the urge to cry out in frustration. He'd gotten so little sleep these past couple of days, he wasn't anywhere near the top of his game, and he knew it. He was crumbling apart, slowly, and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to pick up the pieces by himself. Lying alone in the dark, for the first time, he acknowledged that maybe he couldn't deal with this by himself.

Maybe he didn't want to.


End file.
